Boom 93: Using mPanel to engage with their readers

Boom 93 is a local media outlet in Požarevac, Serbia. Operating both online and on the radio, Boom 93 reaches a wide local audience but is also motivated to innovate to engage its audience. The text below shows how tools such as push notifications, quizzes, and polls can enhance user engagement.

Local news only matters if it’s actually local

If you live in Požarevac, you probably have BBC or CNN for global news, and N1 or RTS for national headlines. You’re covered. What you usually don’t have is a reliable way to know what is happening in your own street or neighbourhood without scrolling through irrelevant info.

That was the main challenge when we started developing the new web and mobile experience for Boom 93. They didn’t want just another news portal; they wanted a platform that changes based on where the user is standing.

Here is how we used our mPanel CMS to build a system that prioritizes geo-location over breaking news.

Geo-targeting as a functional tool:
Most apps use location just to show you the weather. We wanted to use it to clean up the user’s feed.
Using our mPanel, Boom 93 editors don't just categorize news by topic; they define a GPS coordinate and a radius for stories. This creates a dynamic app structure:
  • Smart Feeds: A user in Požarevac gets a completely different homepage and menu than a user in Velika Plana. The app filters out the noise automatically. Technically, we handle the location sorting on our end, not on the user's device. This protects the user's battery life because the app only receives the specific news meant for that location, rather than downloading everything and sorting it out locally.
  • Expansion Ready: This allows Boom 93 to cover multiple towns from a single CMS instance without the app feeling cluttered or "heavy" for the end user.

Solving the "Push Notification Spam" problem:
Push notifications are the fastest way to lose a user if you abuse them. Nobody wants their phone buzzing for a traffic jam in a city 50km away.We built the notification engine to respect the radius logic set in the CMS. When an editor sends an alert, the system checks the user's location.
  • If it affects you, you get the alert.
  • If it doesn't, silence.
This keeps the "unsubscribe" rate low because every notification offers actual value to the person receiving it.

Keeping users in the app (Radio & Quizzes)Getting users to open the app is step one. Keeping them there requires more than just text.
 
The Radio Player we integrated a live radio stream that works seamlessly in the background. Users can browse news, check the weather, or even lock their phones while the radio keeps playing. It turns the app into a utility, not just a reader.Engagement via mPanel Boom 93 uses our quiz module to drive interaction. Instead of manual entry, we built a bulk-import feature allowing them to upload 500+ questions via Excel. The system then:
  • Randomizes questions weekly so content stays fresh.
  • Enforces time limits on answers to prevent Googling.
  • Maintains ranking lists based on points.
It’s a simple, honest way to build a community habit without over-engineering the process.
 

Engagement via mPanel Boom 93 uses our quiz module to drive interaction. Instead of manual entry, we built a bulk-import feature allowing them to upload 500+ questions via Excel. The system then:

  • Randomizes questions weekly so content stays fresh.

  • Enforces time limits on answers to prevent Googling.

  • Maintains ranking lists based on points.

It’s a simple, honest way to build a community habit without over-engineering the process.

Why we use mPanel

We built Boom 93 on our own mPanel CMS because standard platforms like WordPress often struggle with this specific mix of geo-logic and mobile-first features.

mPanel allows us to deploy these modules—geo-fencing, e-paper readers, or complex notification rules—out of the box. It gives local media the kind of tech stack usually reserved for big national players, but keeps the workflow simple enough for a small editorial team to manage daily.

Other mPanel modules we offer:

  • Advanced E-paper reader (App + Web) with auto-invoicing.

  • Obituaries with structured billing workflows.

  • User-Generated Content moderation tools.

  • Community features (Chat/Forum similar to Discord).

  • AI Translation for multilingual publishing.

 

We built these tools because standard plugins simply couldn't handle the nuance of hyper-local publishing. The goal isn't just to have an app; it is to provide a service that respects the user's time and location. When you do that, local news stops being noise and becomes a genuine daily utility.

Boom 93: Using mPanel to engage with their readers

Boom 93 is a local media outlet in Požarevac, Serbia. Operating both online and on the radio, Boom 93 reaches a wide local audience but is also motivated to innovate to engage its audience. The text below shows how tools such as push notifications, quizzes, and polls can enhance user engagement.

Local news only matters if it’s actually local

If you live in Požarevac, you probably have BBC or CNN for global news, and N1 or RTS for national headlines. You’re covered. What you usually don’t have is a reliable way to know what is happening in your own street or neighbourhood without scrolling through irrelevant info.

That was the main challenge when we started developing the new web and mobile experience for Boom 93. They didn’t want just another news portal; they wanted a platform that changes based on where the user is standing.

Here is how we used our mPanel CMS to build a system that prioritizes geo-location over breaking news.

Geo-targeting as a functional tool:
Most apps use location just to show you the weather. We wanted to use it to clean up the user’s feed.
Using our mPanel, Boom 93 editors don't just categorize news by topic; they define a GPS coordinate and a radius for stories. This creates a dynamic app structure:
  • Smart Feeds: A user in Požarevac gets a completely different homepage and menu than a user in Velika Plana. The app filters out the noise automatically. Technically, we handle the location sorting on our end, not on the user's device. This protects the user's battery life because the app only receives the specific news meant for that location, rather than downloading everything and sorting it out locally.
  • Expansion Ready: This allows Boom 93 to cover multiple towns from a single CMS instance without the app feeling cluttered or "heavy" for the end user.

Solving the "Push Notification Spam" problem:
Push notifications are the fastest way to lose a user if you abuse them. Nobody wants their phone buzzing for a traffic jam in a city 50km away.We built the notification engine to respect the radius logic set in the CMS. When an editor sends an alert, the system checks the user's location.
  • If it affects you, you get the alert.
  • If it doesn't, silence.
This keeps the "unsubscribe" rate low because every notification offers actual value to the person receiving it.

Keeping users in the app (Radio & Quizzes)Getting users to open the app is step one. Keeping them there requires more than just text.
 
The Radio Player we integrated a live radio stream that works seamlessly in the background. Users can browse news, check the weather, or even lock their phones while the radio keeps playing. It turns the app into a utility, not just a reader.Engagement via mPanel Boom 93 uses our quiz module to drive interaction. Instead of manual entry, we built a bulk-import feature allowing them to upload 500+ questions via Excel. The system then:
  • Randomizes questions weekly so content stays fresh.
  • Enforces time limits on answers to prevent Googling.
  • Maintains ranking lists based on points.
It’s a simple, honest way to build a community habit without over-engineering the process.
 

Engagement via mPanel Boom 93 uses our quiz module to drive interaction. Instead of manual entry, we built a bulk-import feature allowing them to upload 500+ questions via Excel. The system then:

  • Randomizes questions weekly so content stays fresh.

  • Enforces time limits on answers to prevent Googling.

  • Maintains ranking lists based on points.

It’s a simple, honest way to build a community habit without over-engineering the process.

Why we use mPanel

We built Boom 93 on our own mPanel CMS because standard platforms like WordPress often struggle with this specific mix of geo-logic and mobile-first features.

mPanel allows us to deploy these modules—geo-fencing, e-paper readers, or complex notification rules—out of the box. It gives local media the kind of tech stack usually reserved for big national players, but keeps the workflow simple enough for a small editorial team to manage daily.

Other mPanel modules we offer:

  • Advanced E-paper reader (App + Web) with auto-invoicing.

  • Obituaries with structured billing workflows.

  • User-Generated Content moderation tools.

  • Community features (Chat/Forum similar to Discord).

  • AI Translation for multilingual publishing.

 

We built these tools because standard plugins simply couldn't handle the nuance of hyper-local publishing. The goal isn't just to have an app; it is to provide a service that respects the user's time and location. When you do that, local news stops being noise and becomes a genuine daily utility.